Bird Construction part of consortium preferred for Whitby’s East Rail Maintenance Facility

Bird Construction Inc. has announced that it is part of a consortium selected as the preferred proponent to design, build, finance and maintain the East Rail Maintenance Facility in Whitby.

A news release says Bird has an interest in, and is also the managing partner of, the construction joint venture to design and build the project. Bird will also take a minority equity interest in the concession responsible for the design, construction, financing and maintenance of the project through Bird Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary.

The East Rail Maintenance Facility will be a 500,000 sq. ft.building, including over 16 km. of rail track that will provide maintenance, repair and additional storage for GO trains in support of GO Transit’s planned service expansion, Bird says in its announcement.

An earlier news release said the Government of Canada will contribute up to $94.8 million through the P3 Canada Fund towards eligible construction and implementation costs. The Ontario government will contribute 75 per cent of the final project cost, indicating this project could have an overall value of more than $350 million.

“The consortium plans to reach financial close early in 2015 and commence construction activity shortly thereafter, with a scheduled completion date in late 2017,” the news release said. “At this time, there can be no assurances that the consortium will receive a contract award related to this project.”

Ian Boyd, Bird’s President and CEO, said “the company is very excited about the East Rail Maintenance Facility which reflects Bird’s ongoing commitment to actively pursue construction and equity investment opportunities in the PPP market across Canada.”